Notebook: Familar Foe, Right Backs & More

Friday

Apr 18, 2014 at 12:01 AMApr 18, 2014 at 2:20 AM

It was less than six weeks ago that the Crew was preparing to open the 2014 Major League Soccer season against D.C. United.

It was less than six weeks ago that the Crew was preparing to open the 2014 Major League Soccer season against D.C. United. With both teams getting ready to start the year after undergoing significant changes during the offseason, specific preparations for the first opponent of the season were difficult at best.

Now five games into the year, the Crew is again about to face one of its oldest rivals. This time, coach and sporting director Gregg Berhalter has a little bit better of an idea what to expect.

“It’s a lot easier obviously to watch their last five games,” he said following today’s training session at Crew Stadium. “It’s been a lot easier to get ahold of that. They’ve made a couple changes and put a couple guys in and they’re playing good. They’re different. They’re playing well. They’ve won their last two games and they’ve been getting results, so I think it’s a good team."

D.C. United will come to Crew Stadium with both a two-game winning and a three-game unbeaten streak on the line. Last season, D.C. won a total of three games during Major League Soccer’s regular season.

Despite the recent positive results, D.C. has been far from dominant. United is last in shots and shots on goal and has earned both wins at RFK Stadium, where it is 2-1-1. On the road, D.C. is 0-1-0 after a loss to Toronto in the second game of the season.

Berhalter, however, said last weekend’s 1-0 win against New York was a key moment for United after it scored in the fourth minute and held on from there.

“That’s a character test for them, and they passed that,” he said. “That was a tough game and they’re under a lot of pressure and they didn’t buckle. They held on for a 1-0 win, and those are good games. They go a long way over the course of a season, winning games like that.

The Crew cruised to a 3-0 season-opening win at RFK but suffered a 2-0 loss to Toronto in its last home game. Berhalter downplayed the notion of D.C. being out for revenge and praised the fans who stuck around until the end of the Toronto game.

“We addressed some of the things from the Toronto game that we weren’t happy with,” he said. “ Certainly we want to come out with more energy and have a more dominant performance at home. One thing that I was pleasantly surprised with was the Nordecke. Even after that Toronto game they were still going strong and giving support and we really appreciate that. To lose a game and not be happy with our own performance but still get cheered on by the fans was, to me, it said a lot about them.”

Outside When Josh Williams went off with an ankle injury last weekend against San Jose, Berhalter was forced to shuffle his defensive lineup. In doing so, he gave captain Michael Parkhurst his first Crew minutes at what would likely be his United States national team position – right back. The versatile Parkhurst had played exclusively at center back for the Crew during the regular season so far, but he spent the final 14 minutes on the wing.

“He’s very comfortable there,” Berhalter said of Parkhurst. “We know he can play there, so I wasn’t surprised. He had a great ball across the middle that could’ve ended up an own goal. He’s very dangerous in those positions and very comfortable on the ball. We know exactly what he can do there.”

After the game, Parkhurst told The Dispatch in a phone interview that he enjoyed his time at right back.

“I felt good,” he said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve played right back. It was fun to get out there and get forward a little bit. I had a couple forays into the attacking zone. It was fun."

So is Berhalter tempted to play Parkhurst more at right back?

“It could be an option,” he said. “It’s natural, right? He’s a right back for the national team so it’s natural we’d think about putting him there.”

Thinking about it and actually doing it are quite different, however.

Talk When the Crew hosts D.C. United, defender Giancarlo Gonzalez will be available after last weekend’s controversial incident with San Jose forward Chris Wondolowski.

Tuesday, the league’s disciplinary committee opted to fine the Crew center back an undisclosed amount of money but declined to suspend him for any length of time. Berhalter said he had spoken with Gonzalez about the incident but offered little further insight.

“I don’t’ know how much to say about it,” he said. “It’s a call made by the disciplinary committee and I spoke to Giancarlo privately about it and that’s all I’ll really say about it.”

Scrimmage Unbeknownst to most of us, the Crew hosted the University of Louisville for a scrimmage April 6. According to the Cardinals’ website, the Crew’s reserves earned a 2-1 win thanks to a pair of goals from forward Adam Bedell.

According to their release, Ryan Finley also saw action for the Crew. Finley, the Crew’s first-round pick in 2013, was sent to USL Pro affiliate Dayton in March but has experienced issues. The Crew’s scrimmage was two days after he was a healthy scratch for a Dayton game. Sources told The Dispatch at the time that Finley was held out because the Dutch Lions’ staff was not pleased with his performance during earlier scrimmages and practices.

You can watch some highlights from the Louisville scrimmage here. Ben Speas, Ben Sweat, Ethan Finlay, Tyson Wahl, Agustin Viana and Eric Gehrig are some players clearly visible in the video.

ajardy@dispatch.com @AdamJardy

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